If you Snooze you loose - The truth v the Theory

Bigplumbs

Bigplumbs

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There is much discussed on here about the best way to buy a boat, Including Sea Trials, Deposits, Engine and hull surveys and lots of paperwork checks and quite a lot of other theory. Well my experience yesterday chucks this all in the bin. I accept the boat in question a 17 year old Maxum 2400 scr priced at £20k is at the lower end of the price range.

Here is the story in short:

Let me first say the boat was not under priced but was in decent order with a high spec of add ons.

1) Saw boat on ebay advertised at £19,950. Contacted the guy through ebay on Friday (August Bank Holiday) and got a reply from him on Saturday. Spoke on the phone on Sunday and we agreed that I would view the boat (10 hr round trip from where I was) on Monday. He also informed me he had lots of interest in the boat and put another guy off to give me first refusal (The seller was very nice and I thought very genuine)

2) Arrived at marina to view the boat on Monday at 3pm with her in doors and had a normal cursory look over the boat. I was informed that he had 153 people 'watching' the boat on ebay which was correct and 4 people waiting to view but I was given first refusal. Now I know many of you will tell me these are all sales techniques but he was genuine I can assure you.

3) While we were viewing the boat a guy turned up (I assume one of the 4) and sort of tried to butt in as another buyer. This made the seller and me feel quite uncomfortable, but the seller asked him to leave/wait a while which he did.

4) I agreed a price with the seller of £20,000 to include the trailer should I wish to actually purchase and said I needed to discuss with my wife on the way home and would give him a definite answer that night when we got home. (This would be after 9pm as bank holiday traffic was terrible).

5) Just as we got home I received a very nicely worded text from the seller apologising but informing me that the other chap had turned up again and paid a £5000 deposit on the spot. I have no idea what he agreed to pay in total.

6) I do not blame the seller at all but this is a lesson learned. If you snooze you loose.....................................and as for all those checks you are supposed to do no time to even think let alone do as so many suggest on here.

The market is certainly changing or it was on this boat. A real life up to date experience, might be typical might not.

Dennis
 
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You never know, the boat might have turned out to be a dog, with a worn out engine and drive.

I sold my previous sea ray 20 footer in 2013 on ebay, it was sold without even being viewed, the chap rang me up ,we discussed the boat, he transferred me the full amount to my bank account without even seeing the boat or meeting me on the basis that it was as id described it. We met at the boat a few days later ,and he sailed it away, no survey,no legals etc it was very much at the cheaper end of the market, sold for 12k.

I wouldnt expect boats worth loads more than this to follow the same process.

I bought my current boat without survey etc, it did help that i knew the owner and therefore knew the history of the boat,and that the seller was trustworthy etc,the boat was not hugely complicated etc. We just used the rya bill of sale doc and transferred the cash, again not as much money as a lot of boats on here,but not an insignificant amount.

Theres no right or wrong way of going about it,just do what feels right to you given the level of risk you feel you are taking.
 
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I wouldn't worry about it , may have been a blessing .
Just to make you feel better I went all the way to LaGrande Motte to view a Princess V48 3 years ago , we agreed a price beforehand and paid a deposit on my credit card luckily, arrived at the boat to find others looking over it which annoyed me as we had a contract, viewed the boat , when it came to the Sunday morning and insisted on the sea trial it all went pear shaped, turned out the owner owed more in finance than the selling price, the French government were after him for the tax of which hadn't been paid for 2 years, the owner was in America although he was French. I spoke direct to CGI the finance company who were about to do a repo on it.
Got my deposit back while sat in the office, was an expensive weekend for virtually nothing , I wouldn't do it again.

Similar thing happened to another forum member in SOF, he went to view the same boat a mate had already paid a deposit on , moral is deal with who you think you can trust.
 
Bigplumbs said:
There is much discussed on here about the best way to buy a boat, Including Sea Trials, Deposits, Engine and hull surveys and lots of paperwork checks and quite a lot of other theory. Well my experience yesterday chucks this all in the bin. I accept the boat in question a 17 year old Maxum 2400 scr priced at £20k is at the lower end of the price range.

Here is the story in short:

Let me first say the boat was not under priced but was in decent order with a high spec of add ons.

1) Saw boat on ebay advertised at £19,950. Contacted the guy through ebay on Friday (August Bank Holiday) and got a reply from him on Saturday. Spoke on the phone on Sunday and we agreed that I would view the boat (10 hr round trip from where I was) on Monday. He also informed me he had lots of interest in the boat and put another guy off to give me first refusal (The seller was very nice and I thought very genuine)

2) Arrived at marina to view the boat on Monday at 3pm with her in doors and had a normal cursory look over the boat. I was informed that he had 153 people 'watching' the boat on ebay which was correct and 4 people waiting to view but I was given first refusal. Now I know many of you will tell me these are all sales techniques but he was genuine I can assure you.

3) While we were viewing the boat a guy turned up (I assume one of the 4) and sort of tried to butt in as another buyer. This made the seller and me feel quite uncomfortable, but the seller asked him to leave/wait a while which he did.

4) I agreed a price with the seller of £20,000 to include the trailer should I wish to actually purchase and said I needed to discuss with my wife on the way home and would give him a definite answer that night when we got home. (This would be after 9pm as bank holiday traffic was terrible).

5) Just as we got home I received a very nicely worded text from the seller apologising but informing me that the other chap had turned up again and paid a £5000 deposit on the spot. I have no idea what he agreed to pay in total.

6) I do not blame the seller at all but this is a lesson learned. If you snooze you loose.....................................and as for all those checks you are supposed to do no time to even think let alone do as so many suggest on here.

The market is certainly changing or it was on this boat. A real life up to date experience, might be typical might not.

Dennis
Click to expand...

No you were right to take the hours to discuss and decide if it was right for you. I'd never buy anything under that time pressure. It can cloud rational. There are lots of good boats out there. It it was meant to be, it would have happened for you.
 
volvopaul said:
I wouldn't worry about it , may have been a blessing .
Just to make you feel better I went all the way to LaGrande Motte to view a Princess V48 3 years ago , we agreed a price beforehand and paid a deposit on my credit card luckily, arrived at the boat to find others looking over it which annoyed me as we had a contract, viewed the boat , when it came to the Sunday morning and insisted on the sea trial it all went pear shaped, turned out the owner owed more in finance than the selling price, the French government were after him for the tax of which hadn't been paid for 2 years, the owner was in America although he was French. I spoke direct to CGI the finance company who were about to do a repo on it.
Got my deposit back while sat in the office, was an expensive weekend for virtually nothing , I wouldn't do it again.

Similar thing happened to another forum member in SOF, he went to view the same boat a mate had already paid a deposit on , moral is deal with who you think you can trust.
Click to expand...

Viewing and putting deposits down can get difficult when more than one broker have the boat on offer.
 
Thanks for your kind words.

The problem is I don't know where to go from here. We are buying in a world where £30,000 is a lot of money to us but it seems to others this is just smallish change., and if others are prepared to jump in both feet first and buy a boat in the same way as I would buy a £300 lawn mower then it becomes quite difficult.

I believe many think it is a buyers market but at certain price points and certainly in certain areas of the country this does not seem to be the case

Nice day so off out in our little 19 footer to see if I can get 27 knots out of her as she is a little fouled now. I will also cast a hook over the side in the dream that a nice big bass will jump on when in reality. I will most likely haul out a little crab :)

Dennis
 
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Dennis, having spent two years looking for a boat I really do feel for you.

However, I'd guess that where we are in the year, used boat stock is probably at its lowest level and as the season starts to draw to a close people will soon start thinking about trading up or selling for other reasons. So hang on in there, the right boat will come along, perhaps when you least expect it (a bit like wive's really)!
 
volvopaul said:
I wouldn't worry about it , may have been a blessing .
Just to make you feel better I went all the way to LaGrande Motte to view a Princess V48 3 years ago , we agreed a price beforehand and paid a deposit on my credit card luckily, arrived at the boat to find others looking over it which annoyed me as we had a contract, viewed the boat , when it came to the Sunday morning and insisted on the sea trial it all went pear shaped, turned out the owner owed more in finance than the selling price, the French government were after him for the tax of which hadn't been paid for 2 years, the owner was in America although he was French. I spoke direct to CGI the finance company who were about to do a repo on it.
Got my deposit back while sat in the office, was an expensive weekend for virtually nothing , I wouldn't do it again.

Similar thing happened to another forum member in SOF, he went to view the same boat a mate had already paid a deposit on , moral is deal with who you think you can trust.
Click to expand...

Yep, be prepared for wasting a lot of time and money if buying abroad. I ended up restricting my search to UK flagged boats being sold by 'main dealers' and even then I still managed to waste a load of time on money on a duff boat.
 
It can be blimming hard work spending money !

Bigplumbs said:
Thanks for your kind words.

The problem is I don't know where to go from here. We are buying in a world where £30,000 is a lot of money to us but it seems to others this is just smallish change.
Dennis
Click to expand...

That is lot of money...... for some life savings, for others,it means having to wait a week or two longer for the Bentayga.
A boat is out there it just has to find you.
We have a really nice much loved Turbo 36 on our moorings up for sale,
No local interest so it is being moved to the Thames to try and find a buyer.
Just case of getting a willing seller and buyer in one place.
Of course when I was in the market a few months ago the only stuff avaialble was tired old over priced rubbish , usually miles away.
Sigh....
 
Re: It can be blimming hard work spending money !

Maybe a small deposit at step 4, plus something in writing to confirm the offer made and accepted, the deposit amount and with some conditions regarding the terms of the deposit and its return if things didn't work out would have been beneficial.

Put yourself in the position of the seller. One buyer seems keen, has made the right noises, but has made no actual commitment and may back out, or even never hear from him again. A second buyer is waving wads of cash under your nose. What you going to do? The seller just wants to get rid of the boat and is not going to turn down a definite sale on the chances of a possible sale. If you want it, make it yours with a deposit. An unscrupulous seller could still sell from under you, but with the right proof of a contract, he may have to face the consequences of doing so.

I do happen to believe in what will be, will be, and the right boat is still out there for you. Good luck
 
You knew what boat it was, and the price, why didn't you discuss it with your wife before you went? The seller may well have accepted a deposit subject to survey and sea trial and turned away the other buyer, so i don't agree all your conclusions, but your "discuss it with the wife" comment probably made him think you were a fender kicker that he would not hear from again
 
ebay is curious animal to buy and sell big ticket items .
My old boat did not initally get many nibbles on ebay, so went with a broker who did a pretty good job of marketing my boat but dismally failed to produce any leads.
Another £15,00 quid went with ebay produced immediately 4 interested parties, all who wanted to view the boat the very next weekend.
Arranged with some cunning and subterfuge for two to visit Saturday and two to visit Sunday with a couple of hours gap to avoid the obvious.
All turned up. First two basically said "No Thanks" not for us.
Third said he would think about it and the last viewer said "Yes" on the spot ,will send you BACS a deposit in morning.
Following day third viewer rang back to say he now wanted boat but BACS deposit had already hit my account.
Balance was paid and boat went away following weekend.
The search for new boat began.
Pretty simple really, knew exactly how much prepared to spend and which all weather boats were likely to cut the mustard, so no tent boats,no outdrives,and no Birchwoods or Sealines. :)
 
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petem said:
Yep, be prepared for wasting a lot of time and money if buying abroad. I ended up restricting my search to UK flagged boats being sold by 'main dealers' and even then I still managed to waste a load of time on money on a duff boat.
Click to expand...

It keeps better by claimed ther are no boats to buy no stock etc. As someone who has just bought a boat I do find this strange and frankly incorrect. In a similar veign all med boats as dismissed as basket cases and other than coming up with excuses ( to who I am not sure !) for not buying a boat again in my personal experiance this is simply not so.

There are plenty of boats. Sure prices are random but if you like it go into bat with comparible evidence to back your offer and buy the thing !
 
jrudge said:
It keeps better by claimed ther are no boats to buy no stock etc. As someone who has just bought a boat I do find this strange and frankly incorrect. In a similar veign all med boats as dismissed as basket cases and other than coming up with excuses ( to who I am not sure !) for not buying a boat again in my personal experiance this is simply not so.

There are plenty of boats. Sure prices are random but if you like it go into bat with comparible evidence to back your offer and buy the thing !
Click to expand...

J, your post has come out a bit intelligible but I just speak as I found. Others in different positions and looking at different boats may have different experiences. I don't claim that ALL Med boats are basket cases but a walk around any Med marina will indicate that there's a lot of tired and unloved ones out there.

And I don't really recall apologizing to anyone for my prolonged search...
 
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don't underestimate the power of the Med sun, what would look really nasty and awful in the North is the average condition down here...
Add to that that most locals use their boats when they only need to wear a swimsuit and the sea temp is appropriate for swimming (iow over 24C) you get the usage patterns of two, max three months a year.
I got lots of odd looks when I went out for a day last November. Q was: "since you don't fish and it's too cold for swimming, why did you move the boat?"
:)

cheers

V.
 
petem said:
J, your post has come out a bit intelligible but I just speak as I found. Others in different positions and looking at different boats may have different experiences. I don't claim that ALL Med boats are basket cases but a walk around any Med marina will indicate that there's a lot of tired and unloved ones out there.

And I don't really recall apologizing to anyone for my prolonged search...
Click to expand...

Was not aimed at you ( only in as much as you made the comment ). Many people say nothing to buy , poor quality etc and all I am saying is that given I have just been in the market I don't agree with them !

Maybe they want an amazing boat for nothing and are disappointed ! I just wanted a fair boat at a fair price and bought within 4 weeks of being able to buy ( i.e. Divorce complete ). There are however plenty of boats with seemingly random high prices hag no one with access to the internet would ever consider paying.
 
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So, my tuppence worth... I think you need to decide on your shortlist of boat models and then learn all you can on them. This will mean you will easily spot a 'good boat' and be in a position to take a calculated risk. With my current boat I knew it was a good buy and also knew how few were on the market. I checked out the broker and paid a deposit subject to survey and sea trial before I even flew out to see it. Some folks will think I was mad, but sometimes you have to take a risk, but the risk is really mitigated if you know what you are buying.
 
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